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Established 1947
AROUNDTOWN
byStephenR. Barbeau
Supervisor,Town ofLeRoy
(585)768-6910 x 231
Last year I wrote a series of
columns about the code and
zoning. Recently, I received a
suggestion that itwouldbegood
to follow that up with a “real
life”exampleofhow theprocess
is supposed to actually work as
it relates to the Town Board. I
thought thatwasagreat ideaand,
aftercheckingwithcodeenforce-
ment and legal, Iwill use actual
cases to demonstrate.
Wehave two recent examples
of local businessmen who have
successfully sought to rezone
property and secure special use
permits to operate their busi-
nesses - Mr. Shane Snell, who
purchased the former Empire
Trucking property (Lime Rock)
in order to operate an internet
used car sales business, andMr.
James Gomborone, who pur-
chased the former Mercy Grove
property to establish a small
hotel/conference center. While
there were a few differences in
these two processes, both were
mostly similar with respect to
the legal process and the Town
Board’s role.
First,neithercouldpursue their
intendedusegivenpresentzoning
of theirproperties.Both required
achange inzoning inorderfor the
new use to even be considered.
Therefore,bothgentlemen initiat-
eda request for change inzoning
bycontactingCodeEnforcement
Officer Jeff Steinbrenner, com-
pleted an application form for a
zoning change with the County
PlanningDepartment, andpaida
fee to start the process.
Next, the County Planning
Department reviewed both ap-
plications and, paying partic-
ular attention to our existing
Comprehensive Plan concerning
appropriate landuse for these re-
spectiveareas, recommendedap-
proval for rezoning (thecar sales
business with some stipulations
I will address later). Then, our
local Planning Board received
the County’s recommendations.
After again reviewing area land
use patterns, both present and
historical, the owners’ requests
for rezone were recommended
for approval. These recommen-
dations then went to the Town
Board, aspartofpublichearings,
toapprove,amend,ordisapprove.
Now, to be sure, both busi-
nessmen themselves worked
much harder than just filling out
some forms toward a success-
ful outcome. Both spoke with
neighbors, inadvance,about their
plans.Both took steps toprovide
for any reservations on the part
of neighbors, including reducing
theamountofarea tobe rezoned,
hoursof operation, repairingand
preventing disrepair of existing
(vacant) buildings, establishing
buffer areas, etc. Both were
also very flexible at the public
hearings.
Finally, to the Town Board’s
role in these two cases. First, as
demonstratedbyboth theCounty
and LeRoy Planning Boards’
recommendations, the Compre-
hensive Plan recognized that the
previoususesofEmpireTrucking
and Mercy Grove were not in
conflict with the proposed new
uses. Second,with the same type
of zoned district (C-1) directly
across the road from these two
properties, there did not appear
tobe any issueof “spot-zoning.”
Third, even assuming a success-
ful rezone,bothbusinessmenstill
neededaspecialusepermit toop-
erate their particular businesses.
This process is facilitated by the
Board between property owners
and any neighbors with reserva-
tions (asmentionedearlier, there
were several conditions attached
to the Lime Rock property to
ensure a harmonious interaction
within the neighborhood).
Finally, theBoardMUST focus
on the purpose of zoning (and,
thus, any rezoning requests) as
expressed in Town Code 165-1:
zoningmustguide futuregrowth/
development in the Town in
accordancewith theComprehen-
sive Plan of land use and popu-
lation density that represents the
most beneficial and convenient
relationships among residential,
nonresidential and public areas
within the Town; zoning must
protect the character and the so-
cial and economic stabilityof all
parts of the Town; zoning must
protect andconserve thevalueof
land throughout theTownand the
value of buildings appropriate to
the various districts established;
the Town should bring about the
gradual conformity of the uses/
buildings and to minimize con-
flicts among such uses.
While this was a somewhat
long-winded attempt to explain
zoning, land use, and Town
Board actions concerning both,
I did want to actually cite two
recent examples of this process.
In sum, the Town BoardMUST
protect the integrity of the Town
Code, ensure compatibility with
theComprehensivePlan (zoning
laws reflect the Comprehensive
Plan), and bring properties into
compliance with the Code. That
is the responsibility of the Town
Board.
Hopefully, thisclarifiedourpro-
cess thatguidesouractions.Thank
you and see youAroundTown.
Town Supervisor Column
